Former Mark Keppel basketball coach Joe Kikuchi charged with sexual abuse

Former Mark Keppel High School girls basketball coach Joseph Kikuchi has been charged with 24 counts of sexual abuse and child molestation, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced Thursday.

If convicted, Kikuchi faces up to 20 years in state prison and lifetime registration as a sex offender.

Kikuchi, 56, faces 19 felony counts and five misdemeanors after allegedly abusing one of the teenagers on his basketball team repeatedly between February and September.

He is charged with 13 counts of sexual penetration by a foreign object, 5 counts of lewd acts upon a child, 5 misdemeanor counts of child molestation, and one count of oral copulation of a person under 16.

Alhambra police began investigating Kikuchi in September after a school staff member reported rumors of an “alleged inappropriate relationship,” and they arrested him on Sept. 24. Kikuchi’s lawyer denied all allegations after the arrest, but could not immediately be reached for comment Thursday morning.

Kikuchi will be arraigned at the Alhambra Courthouse on Friday morning. Prosecutors are asking that he be held on $1.47-million bail.

Reach Sonali Kohli on Twitter @Sonali_Kohli or by email at Sonali.Kohli@latimes.com.